Information storage medium having multi-angle data structure and apparatus therefor

ABSTRACT

An information storage medium which stores data structures supporting multi-angles includes clip AV streams for respective angle data of multi-angle motion picture data. As additional information for each clip AV stream, clip information is recorded on a separate storage area from that of the clip AV streams. The clip information includes jumping-point information for jumping into another angle. Each of the clip AV streams may be recorded in a contiguous recording area, or divided into smaller interleaved units that are interleaved with units of the other clip AV streams.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/735,823, filed Dec. 16, 2003, which claims the priority of KoreanPatent Application No. 2002-80484, filed on Dec. 16, 2002, in the KoreanIntellectual Property Office, and claims the priority of U.S. PatentApplication No. 60/452,550, filed on Mar. 7, 2003, in the U.S. Patentand Trademark Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated hereinby reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate toan information storage medium and multi-angle data structures.

2. Description of the Related Art

For example, DVDs are information storage media capable of storingmulti-angle data. Multi-angle data is recorded on a DVD using aninterleaving method in which data to be recorded is divided intopredetermined units and recorded in turns. Information for seeking andreproducing interleaved blocks is recorded in motion picturebit-streams.

FIG. 1 shows a data structure of a conventional DVD. Referring to FIG.1, a DVD storage area includes a VMG area, wherein title information andtitle menu information are stored, and a plurality of VTS areas, whereina plurality of movie files are stored. Generally, the VMG area includestwo or three files and each VTS area includes three through twelvefiles. The VTS area may include information for a title as areproduction unit and a VOBS as motion picture information. A pluralityof titles can be stored in one VTS.

FIG. 2 shows a data structure of the VMG area of FIG. 1. The VMG areaincludes a VMGI area which stores additional information related to theVMG area, a VOBS area which stores video objects for menu, and a backuparea of VMGI. Each area exists as one file, and the VOBS area may beomitted in some cases.

FIG. 3 shows a data structure of the VTS area of FIG. 1. The VTS areaincludes Video Title Set Information (VTSI), a VOBS as motion picturedata for menu picture, a VOBS as motion picture information for videotitle set, and backup data of VTSI. A VOBS for displaying a menu picturecan be included selectively in the VTS area. Each VOBS is subdividedinto VOBs and cells as recording units. One VOB comprises a plurality ofcells. The smallest recording unit may be referred to as a cell.

In the DVD, each layer is a reproduction unit and a title is provided ina top layer. The title is connected with one or more PGCs. A PGC amongthe plurality of PGCs to be first reproduced is called Entry PGC. Atitle may comprise only one PGC, that is, an Entry PGC. A title maycomprise a plurality of PGCs. In such a case, where reproduction of onePGC is complete, another PGC among the plurality of PGCs may be selectedand reproduced, and information on a reproduction sequence of a PGC maybe stored as a command in the DVD. A control of such a reproductionsequence may be referred to as Navigation. The command deciding thereproduction sequence may be stored in a PGCI.

FIG. 4 shows a data structure of a PGC of the DVD. Referring to FIG. 4,the PGC is stored as an information structure such as a PGCI. The PGCIcomprises a pre-command which stores a navigation command, apost-command, and a plurality of program information. The pre-command isa command performed before reproduction of a corresponding PGC, and thepost-command is a command performed after reproduction of acorresponding PGC. Each program is composed of a plurality of cellinformation. These cells are connected on a one-to-one basis to cells ina VOB as recording units. Each cell has a cell command performed afterreproduction of the cell is completed. The PGCI information describes aPGC as a recording unit hierarchically. The PGCI information has aninformation structure to connect a cell as a lowest reproduction unit toa cell as a lowest recording unit. In the PGC, a plurality of cells asrecording units are interconnected, and the plurality of cells form oneangle block.

FIG. 5 shows an example of an angle block comprising a plurality ofcells arranged in parallel. Upon reproduction, one cell in the angleblock is selected and reproduced. The plurality of cells forming theangle block have the same reproduction time and each cell corresponds toangle data in the angle block, angle data divided into interleaved units(ILVUs) as predetermined units are interleaved with each other andrecorded to VOBs and Cells as recording units.

FIG. 6 shows VOBs and Cells as recording units in a case of notincluding multi-angle data. Referring to FIG. 6, each VOB is stored in acontinuous block of a contiguous recording space of the informationstorage medium. In the case of multi-angle data, as shown in FIG. 7,VOBs, each of which corresponds to angle data, and the Cells, as lowerunits thereof, are recorded as an interleaved block, in which ILVU unitsare interleaved. Accordingly, one angle data is not stored within acontiguous recording area, and each angle data is interleaved andrecorded in a predetermined order.

FIG. 7 shows an arrangement in which two angle data are interleaved andrecorded in order. As shown in FIG. 7, each ILVU should have a samereproduction time. A size of a recording length of data may be changedaccording to data compressibility. To reproduce interleaved data,jumping of the ILVU data unit is required in both cases where one angledata is reproduced, and where one angle data is changed from anotherangle data and then reproduced. For example, to reproduce datacorresponding to angle 1, it is required to seek and reproduce only ILVUdata corresponding to the angle 1. To change to another angle data whileangle data is reproduced, jumping to a specific location correspondingto the changed angle data should be performed. At this time, the jumpinglocation is also decided based on the ILVU unit.

Location information for an ILVU unit of a corresponding angle and foranother ILVU unit of another angle connected to the corresponding angleis recorded in motion picture bit-streams. As shown in FIG. 8, a VOBS asa motion picture bit-stream has a layered structure, and a lowest layercomprises PCKs (PACKs) such as a NV_PCK, A_PCK, V_PCK, and SP_PCK. TheNV_PCK is, referred to as a navigation pack, and as shown in FIG. 9,stores location and size information SML_AGL_Cn_DSTA of ILVU data for amaximum of nine angles supported by the DVD. These are information forseeking ILVU data for angle n connected to the ILVU data currently beingreproduced. After reproducing the present ILVU data, angle change into adesired angle may be performed using this information to reproduce ILVUdata for the desired angle. Such location information of ILVU data ismultiplexed and recorded in bit-streams of interleaved and recordedmotion picture data.

FIG. 10 illustrates jumping into selected angles, in a reproductionorder. Referring to FIG. 10, to perform a seamless change to reproducemotion pictures, where an angle change command from a user is receivedat a specific location, jumping into ILVU data of the desired angle isgenerated after the reproduction of present ILUV data, and reproductionof the ILVU data of the desired angle is performed.

A conventional authoring process of the DVD for multi-angle data isdescribed below. First, images taken from various angles are compressedrespectively and bit-streams having the same reproduction length arecreated. The bit-streams are interleaved and each bit-stream includesinformation capable of referring to different angles so as to allow anangle change in the midst of reproduction.

Information related to interleaving is multiplexed and recorded in amotion picture data stream, and therefore is extracted. Generally, anoperation to seek and reproduce an interleaved block belonging to anangle, or to change to and thereafter seek and reproduce an interleavedblock corresponding to another angle, is processed through software by aCPU of a reproduction apparatus. This software accesses the interleavedblock currently being reproduced, obtains location information on adesired interleaved block to be reproduced, and transfers the obtainedlocation information to a data reading device. Also, compressed andencoded motion picture data is processed in a motion picturede-multiplexer. Accordingly, a process for extracting locationinformation from motion picture data and transferring the locationinformation to the CPU is needed.

Furthermore, where multi-angle data is divided into predetermined units,interleaved, and stored, reproduction location change is continuouslyrequired in order to read data successively, as the corresponding datais not recorded successively even in a case where one angle data isreproduced successively. Also, a problem exists in that even though aconsiderable time for location change may be needed with respect to, forexample, optical disks or hard disks, bit-rate of compressed bit-streamsto compensate for this time is limited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide aninformation storage medium having a data structure capable of removingstorage location limitation of multi-angle data and allowing randomaccess of the multi-angle data, and a recording and/or reproducingapparatus therefor.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an informationstorage medium comprising information on jumping-points for a successivereproduction and angle change of multi-angle data, on a separate storagearea from that of motion picture data, and a recording and/orreproducing apparatus therefor.

Still another aspect of the present invention is to provide aninformation storage medium comprising information on jumping-points fora successive reproduction and angle change of multi-angle dataintegrated with information for random access supported by motionpicture data, and a recording and/or reproducing apparatus therefor.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the present invention will beset forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will beobvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of theinvention.

To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention,there is provided an apparatus for recording multi-angle motion picturedata on an information storage medium, the apparatus comprising arecording unit which records motion picture data for different angleswhich are interleaved with respect to each other, on the informationstorage medium, wherein motion picture data for each angle has aplurality of access points through which motion picture data for anotherangle is connectedly and successively reproduced, and a controller whichcontrols the recording unit to record information on the access pointson a separate area of the information storage medium from that of theinterleaved motion picture data.

The controller may control the recording unit to record the informationon the access points as part of characteristic information correspondingto the motion picture data for different angles.

To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention,there is provided another apparatus for recording multi-angle motionpicture data on an information storage medium, the apparatus comprisinga recording unit which records motion picture data for different angleswhich are divided and interleaved with respect to each other ininterleaved units, on the information storage medium, and a controllerwhich controls the recording unit to record information for accessingfrom an interleaved unit of motion picture data for an angle to a nextinterleaved unit of the motion picture data for the angle and/or foraccessing from an interleaved unit of motion picture data for an angleto a corresponding next interleaved unit of motion picture data foranother angle, on a separate area of the information storage medium fromthat of the interleaved motion picture data.

To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention,there is provided still another apparatus for recording multi-anglemotion picture data corresponding to a motion picture on an informationstorage medium, the apparatus comprising a recording unit which recordsclip AV streams corresponding to motion picture data for differentangles, the clip AV streams being interleaved with respect to eachother, on the information storage medium, and a controller whichcontrols the recording unit to record information on jumping-points ofthe clip AV streams on a separate area of the information storage mediumfrom that of the interleaved clip AV streams, wherein the jumping-pointsare access points through which the motion picture is reproduced fromone angle to another angle.

The controller may control the recording unit to record the informationon the jumping-points as part of clip information corresponding to theclip AV streams.

To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention,there is provided yet another apparatus for recording multi-angle motionpicture data corresponding to a motion picture on an information storagemedium, the apparatus comprising a recording unit which records a clipAV stream corresponding to motion picture data for different angles thatare interleaved with respect to each other, on the information storagemedium, and a controller which controls the recording unit to recordinformation on jumping-points of the clip AV stream on a separate areaof the information storage medium from that of the clip AV stream,wherein the jumping-points are access points through which the motionpicture is reproduced from one angle to another angle.

To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention,there is provided still yet another apparatus for recording multi-anglemotion picture data corresponding to a motion picture on an informationstorage medium, the apparatus comprising a recording unit which recordsclip AV streams corresponding to motion picture data for differentangles, the clip AV streams being interleaved with respect to eachother, on the information storage medium, and a controller whichcontrols the recording unit to record a plurality of clip informationcorresponding to the clip AV streams in a separate area of theinformation storage medium from that of the interleaved clip AV streams,wherein each clip information comprises an entry point map comprisinginformation on entry points for random access and information on whethereach of the entry points is a jumping-point, wherein the jumping-pointis an access point through which the motion picture is reproduced fromone angle to another angle.

To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention,there is provided an apparatus for reproducing motion picture data fordifferent angles from an information storage medium, the apparatuscomprising a reading unit which reads the motion picture data fordifferent angles that are interleaved with respect to each other, fromthe information storage medium, wherein motion picture data for eachangle has a plurality of access points through which motion picture datafor another angle is connectedly and successively reproduced, and areproduction unit which reproduces the motion picture data for differentangles according to information on the access points provided in aseparate area of the information storage medium form that of theinterleaved motion picture data.

To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention,there is provided another apparatus for reproducing motion picture datafor different angles from an information storage medium, the apparatuscomprising a reading unit which reads the motion picture data fordifferent angles that are divided and interleaved with respect to eachother in interleaved units, from the information storage medium, and areproduction unit which reproduces the motion picture data for differentangles according to access point information provided in a separate areaof the information storage medium form that of the interleaved motionpicture data, wherein the access point information comprises informationfor accessing from an interleaved unit of motion picture data for anangle to a next interleaved unit of the motion picture data for theangle and/or for accessing from an interleaved unit of motion picturedata for an angle to a corresponding next interleaved unit of motionpicture data for another angle.

To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention,there is provided still another apparatus for reproducing motion picturedata for different angles corresponding to a motion picture from aninformation storage medium, the apparatus comprising a reading unitwhich reads clip AV streams corresponding to the motion picture data fordifferent angles, the clip AV streams being interleaved with respect toeach other, from the information storage medium, and a reproduction unitwhich reproduces the clip AV streams according to information onjumping-points of the clip AV streams provided in a separate area of theinformation storage medium form that of the interleaved clip AV streams,wherein the jumping-points are access points through which the motionpicture is reproduced from one angle to another angle.

To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention,there is provided yet another apparatus for reproducing motion picturedata for different angles corresponding to a motion picture from aninformation storage medium, the apparatus comprising a reading unitwhich reads a clip AV stream corresponding to the motion picture datafor different angles that are interleaved with respect to each other,from the information storage medium, and a reproduction unit whichreproduces the clip AV stream according to information on jumping-pointsof the clip AV stream provided in a separate area of the informationstorage medium form that of the clip AV stream, wherein thejumping-points are access points through which the motion picture isreproduced from one angle to another angle.

To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention,there is provided still yet another apparatus for reproducing motionpicture data for different angles corresponding to a motion picture froman information storage medium, the apparatus comprising a reading unitwhich reads clip AV streams corresponding to the motion picture data fordifferent angles, the clip AV streams being interleaved with respect toeach other, from the information storage medium, and a reproduction unitwhich reproduces the clip AV streams according to a plurality of clipinformation corresponding to the clip AV streams provided in a separatearea of the information storage medium form that of the interleaved clipAV streams, wherein each clip information comprises an entry point mapcomprising information on entry points for random access and informationon whether each of the entry points is a jumping-point, wherein thejumping-point is an access point through which the motion picture isreproduced from one angle to another angle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe aspects of the present invention, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a data structure of a DVD;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a data structure of a VMG area ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a data structure of a VTS area ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a data structure of a PGC of theDVD;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a construction of an angle block;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating VOBs and Cells as recording unitsin a case of not including multi-angle data;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating two angle data which areinterleaved and recorded in order;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed layer of a motionpicture bit-stream;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an information structure forreproducing multi-angle data, recorded on a NV_PCK;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a jumping operation with respectto selected angles, in a reproduction order;

FIG. 11 is a view showing a location relationship among jumping-units,jumping-points, and entry-points to illustrate an aspect of the presentinvention;

FIG. 12 is a view for describing a method in which respective clip AVstreams are recorded in a contiguous storage area to illustrate anaspect of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a view for describing a method in which respective clip AVstreams are interleaved and recorded to illustrate an aspect of thepresent invention;

FIG. 14 is a view for describing a correlation among PlayLists,PlayItems, clip information, and clip AV streams to illustrate an aspectof the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a view for describing a relationship between jumpingoperations and buffers, for successively reproducing motion picturedata, to illustrate an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a view illustrating an exemplary construction of a PlayListhaving a multi-angle structure, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a data structure forjumping-points, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating a data structure forjumping-points, according to another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating a data structure forjumping-points, according to still another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary PlayListinformation having PlayItems forming an angle block, to illustrate anaspect of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a view illustrating an exemplary construction of PlayLists asreproduction units according to respective angles, to illustrate anaspect of the present invention; and

FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary structure ofadditional information for an angle represented by a correspondingPlayList, to illustrate an aspect of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the presentinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain thepresent invention by referring to the figures.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided amedium in which information on jumping-points to reproduce each angledata and/or reproduce another angle data in the midst of reproducinginitial angle data is recorded in a separate storage area of the mediumfrom that of multi-angle motion picture data. According to an aspect ofthe present invention, motion picture data for an angle may be stored asa clip audio-video (AV) stream, and clip AV streams for different anglesmay be individually divided into smaller interleaved blocks andinterleaved with each other. According to another aspect, each angledata may be recorded using a division recording method. Jumping-pointinformation for seeking motion picture data for each angle is stored ina separate storage area from that of the motion picture data. That is,information for referring to different angles is provided in a separatearea from that of the clip AV streams.

To change from one angle to another angle according to an aspect of thepresent invention, angle data are classified into correspondingjumping-units (JPUs), a start address of each jumping-unit is designatedas a jumping point, and information on the jumping point is recorded asseparate additional information. In a case where one angle data isdivided into interleaved blocks and interleaved with another angle data,the interleaved blocks may act as the jumping-units.

To perform the operation described above, an embodiment of the presentinvention may comprise the following components:

(1) compressed and encoded clip audio-visual (AV) streams for respectiveangles;

(2) clip information file having information such as encoding attributeinformation for a clip AV stream;

(3) PlayItem for setting time according to a reproduction intervalbetween IN-time and OUT-time of a clip;

(4) PlayList comprising one or more PlayItems; and

(5) jumping-point map which stores locations of jumping-points.

Multi-angle data refers to motion picture data comprising a plurality ofreproduction units at a specific time-point. That is, the multi-angledata is motion picture data that are photographed simultaneously using aplurality of cameras at a specific time-point, each camera, for example,representing a view from a different angle. Audio data may be common foreach angle or be created differently for each angle. Motion picture datacapable of being reproduced at a same time-band are referred to asmulti-angle data and contents created using the multi-angle data arereferred to as multi-angle contents.

Since the motion picture data is very large in size, the motion picturedata is compressed and stored/transmitted as compressed bit-streams. Asan illustration, a clip may correspond to a recording unit, and PlayListand PlayItem correspond to reproduction units. The clip may correspondto a cell as a recording unit of, for example, a DVD, and the PlayListand PlayItem correspond to a program and cell as reproduction units ofthe DVD. An object comprising a clip AV stream and clip information maybe referred to as a clip, and a PlayItem may cover a part of or thewhole clip. Further descriptions thereof are provided below.

An information recording medium according to an embodiment of thepresent invention stores AV streams, that is, clip AV streams, as clips.A clip AV stream may be divided into interleaved blocks to beinterleaved, or recorded in a contiguous storage area. Each AV stream iscompressed and recorded to reduce its size. To reproduce the recordedclip AV streams, characteristic information of the compressed motionpicture data is needed. For this reason, clip information is providedfor each clip AV stream. The clip information comprises audio and videoattributes for each clip AV stream, and an Entry Point Map that storeslocation information of entry-points allowing random access perpredetermined intervals. In MPEG that is utilized generally as motionpicture compression standards, the entry-points correspond to thelocations of I-pictures to which intra-images are compressed. Forexample, the Entry Point Map is utilized in time-seeking for seeking apredetermined time-elapsed point after reproduction starts.

FIG. 11 shows a location relationship among jumping-units,jumping-points, and entry-points on a clip AV stream to illustrate anaspect of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 11, where the clip AVstream is motion picture data corresponding to one angle data amongmulti-angle data, the clip AV stream is divided into a plurality ofjumping-units. Each start-point of each jumping-unit is a jumping-point.A jumping-point may be a location of a clip AV stream from which it isjumped out-of to reproduce another clip AV stream corresponding tomotion picture data having a different angle in the midst of reproducingthe clip AV stream, or a location of a clip AV stream being jumped intoin the midst of reproducing another clip AV stream. A jumping-point maybe identical to an entry-point. According to an aspect, since theentry-points exist, for example, per about 0.5 second time-intervals,all entry-points may not be used as jumping-points in seamlessreproduction. As shown in FIG. 11, one jumping-unit may include aplurality of entry-points. A jumping-point may indicate a firstentry-point among the plurality of entry-points within the jumping-unit.

FIG. 12 shows a data structure of a plurality of clip AV streams formulti-angle data, wherein the clip AV streams are not interleaved, toillustrate an aspect of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 12, therespective clip AV streams are recorded individually in a contiguousrecording area, where each clip AV stream corresponds to a differentangle. The clip AV streams have the same number of jumping-points, andare interconnected virtually. That is, clip AV streams are divided andrecorded individually in a continuous storage area, but connected toeach other at jumping-points as locations indicating a same reproductiontime-point. Accordingly, in the case of reproducing another clip AVstream in the midst of reproducing a current clip AV stream, successivereproduction can be performed by seeking a jumping point of a nextjumping unit and reproducing the next jumping-unit of the another clipAV stream, after terminating the reproduction of a jumping-unit of thecurrent clip AV stream. FIG. 12 illustrates a reproduction sequence,where angle 3 is reproduced, then angle 1 is reproduced, andsuccessively, angle m is reproduced. A user input for an angle changemay be processed on the basis of jumping-units.

FIG. 13 shows a data structure where respective clip AV streams areinterleaved and recorded, to illustrate an aspect of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 13, where a clip AV stream, as one angledata, is divided into smaller interleaved units to be interleaved withdifferent angle data, a jumping-unit acts as an interleaved unit, and astart-point of the interleaved unit acts as a jumping-point andsimultaneously as a first entry-point of a corresponding interleavedunit. One interleaved unit may comprise a plurality of entry-points forrandom access. Referring to FIG. 13, there may be a jumping at a certainjumping-point even in the midst of reproducing one angle data. Whereclip AV streams are interleaved, an interleaved unit corresponding tocurrent angle data is sought and reproduced. Jumping-point informationis used to reproduce a next interleaved unit belonging to, for example,the same angle data, that is, the current angle data, after reproductionof the interleaved unit. The location of the next interleaved unit isfound using the jumping-point information. Where a user selects oneangle from another angle, in other words, one angle data from anotherangle data, the jumping point information is also used to search for thelocation of a corresponding interleaved unit of the one angle data.

FIG. 14 illustrates a correlation among a PlayList, a PlayItem, clipinformation, and a clip AV stream. As an illustration, a clip refers toa clip AV stream and corresponding clip information for the clip AVstream. Referring to FIG. 14, a PlayList is a basic unit forreproduction. An information storage medium according to the presentinvention may store a plurality of PlayLists. One PlayList may comprisea plurality of PlayItems being interconnected. A PlayItem may be used todesignate a reproduction start time and reproduction end time of a clip.The location of a corresponding part (PlayItem) in an actual clip AVstream can be found using clip information.

An information storage medium according to the present invention,capable of allowing random access, may perform a successive reproductionby changing reproduction locations in a predetermined time, even in anon-contiguous storage area. This location change is referred to as“jumping.” Generally, an electronic information storage medium such as amemory does not require a predetermined jumping time, but an informationstorage medium such as an optical disk, wherein a pickup is moved toread data, requires a considerable time for a jumping operation. Also,where a reading speed of motion picture data from the informationstorage medium is different from a reproduction speed of the read motionpicture data, a component for compensating the difference between thereading speed and the reproduction speed is needed even in the case ofreading and reproducing a contiguous storage area. A motion picturebuffer may be used as such a compensating component. A motion picturebuffer having a predetermined size is prepared. The buffer is filled byreading data at a predetermined speed, and thereafter, a reproduction isperformed. The reading speed of the data may be controlled to preventoverflow or underflow of the motion picture buffer. By using the motionpicture buffer, even where the motion picture data is recorded at avariable bit-rate (VBR), a successive reproduction is possible.

FIG. 15 illustrates that data stored in the motion picture buffer isreproduced in such a manner that, even where a jumping-unit isreproduced and thereafter a jumping is generated to a clip AV streamstoring motion picture data for another angle, the motion picture datais reproduced without disconnection during the jumping operation time.Before underflow of the buffer can occur, the jumping operation iscompleted and a reproduction of a jumping unit of a next angle isstarted. In the case of a reproduction device requiring a jumpingoperation time, if it is assumed that a worst jump operation time isT_JUMP, a data reading speed is V_R, and a reproduction speed of motionpicture data is V_(—)0, the size of a jumping unit should satisfy thecondition: Jumping unit size >V_R*V_O*T_JUMP/(V_R−V_O). Also, the buffershould satisfy at least the following size condition: Buffer size(B)>V_O*T_JUMP.

FIG. 16 shows a PlayList having a multi-angle structure according to anembodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 16, PlayItemsincluded in the PlayList have a sequential structure, but as denoted bya second PlayItem in FIG. 16, a plurality of clips forming an angleblock correspond to a PlayItem in the case of multi-angle data. Uponreproduction, one of clip AV streams (not shown) belonging to this angleblock may be reproduced. The clip AV streams, that is, the clips 2, 3and 4 forming the angle block may have the same reproduction time. Whilenot illustrated, according to an aspect of the present invention, theclips designated to the PlayItem forming the angle block includejumping-point information as additional information in a separatestorage area from that of motion picture data, that is, the clip AVstreams. According to various aspects of the present invention, the clipAV streams may be interleaved to each other, or divided and recorded ina contiguous storage area, that is, each of the clip AV streams isrecorded continuously without being interleaved with other clip AVstreams. Where the clip AV streams are interleaved, each clip AV streamis divided into smaller units, that is, interleaved units, to beinterleaved with divided clip AV streams for other angles. In the caseof not being interleaved, as shown in FIG. 16, Clips 2, 3, 4 arerecorded respectively on a continuous storage area. Accordingly, theseclips are provided in the same manner as that of Clips 1 and 5 which donot form the angle block.

FIG. 17 shows a data structure for providing jumping-points according toan embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 17, in thecase that a corresponding clip is a clip for angle, jumping point map(JPMap) information is created and included in clip information,additionally to general Information and entry point map (EPMap)information. According to an embodiment of the present invention,jumping point information is recorded in a separate storage area fromthat of motion picture data. According to an aspect, since the jumpingpoint information has a close relationship with the motion picture data,the jumping point information is included in clip information. The clipinformation is additional information for a clip AV stream. According tovarious aspects of the present invention, motion picture data fordifferent angles may be represented by a clip AV stream or a pluralityof clip AV streams. The general information may comprise information asfollows:

-   -   version_number: version of a clip information file;    -   EPMap_start_address: relative byte number from a first byte of        the clip information file, indicating a start address of an        EPMap information;    -   JPMap_start_address: relative byte number from a first byte of        the clip information file, indicating a start address of a JPMap        information, wherein if this value is zero, the corresponding        clip is not a clip for angle and the JPMap information does not        exist; and    -   ClipInfo: storing attributes of a clip AV stream file related to        the clip information file.

The EPMap information comprises information for the time and location ofan entry point capable of random access. Generally, the reproductiontime is a Presentation Time defined in MPEG, and the locationinformation is the number of bytes, the number of sectors, or the numberof MPEG-TS packets where motion picture information is encoded in MPEGTransport Streams. The JPMap information comprises jumping pointinformation to virtually connect a clip with clips of other angles wherethe clip corresponds to a clip for angle data. According to an aspect,the number of jumping-points and corresponding jumping point informationare included in jump manager information of the JPMap information. Thejumping point information comprises information to seek a location of ajumping point from a start location of a corresponding clip. Accordingto an aspect, this location information is the number of bytes or thenumber of sectors. According to another aspect, the location informationmay be the number of MPEG-TS packets where the information is encoded inMPEG Transport Streams.

FIG. 18 shows a data structure for providing jumping-points according toanother embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 18,jumping point information is included in EPMap information. As describedabove, a jumping point may be identical to an entry point as a randomaccess point where a moving picture is encoded by performing space-timecompression such as the MPEG. Accordingly, information on jumping pointscan be easily recorded by inserting information about whether acorresponding entry point acts as a jumping point to information on theentry point. According to an aspect, each of a plurality of clipinformation corresponding to clip AV streams may include EPMapinformation comprising information on entry points and whether each ofthe entry points also acts a jumping point.

FIG. 19 shows a data structure for providing jumping points according tostill another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 19,an additional information structure is created by collectingjumping-point information for clips forming an angle block. That is, thenumber of clips forming one angle block and the number of jumping-pointsexisting in one clip are stored in jump manager information. Then,information for the jumping-points for each clip, that is, each clip AVstream, is stored sequentially in the jump manager information. Acorresponding location of each angle, each angle data, may be searchedfor with this information structure. According to a different aspect,jumping point map information may correspond to a clip, that is, a clipAV stream corresponding to motion picture data for different angles,that is, various angles.

FIG. 20 shows PlayList information comprising a PlayItem forming anangle block. Referring to FIG. 20, PlayItem information comprises angleblock information in addition to general PlayItem information. The angleblock information comprises information about whether a correspondingPlayItem constitutes an angle block. The PlayItem informationconstituting the angle block is recorded in order. Upon reproduction,one of the PlayItems forming the PlayList is reproduced. Where thePlayItem is for multi-angle motion picture data, a change may beprovided to reproduce from one angle to another belonging to the sameangle block. According to another aspect, FIG. 22 shows PlayListinformation comprising PlayItems and angle block information.

FIG. 21 shows a construction of PlayLists as reproducing unitscorresponding to respective angles. Referring to FIG. 21, where onePlayList corresponds to one angle, the PlayItem belonging to thePlayList does not form an angle block. As shown in FIG. 21, informationon an angle represented by a corresponding PlayList is recordedseparately. A corresponding PlayList is reproduced according to an angleselection or angle change by a user.

As described above, motion picture data for one angle may be divided andinterleaved with divided motion picture data for another angle, or eachmotion picture data may be recorded in a continuous storage area. Theconnection locations of the motion picture data representing respectiveangles are jumping-points. The jumping-points are managed as additionaldata in a separate storage area from that of the motion picture data.Reproduction unit information for connecting and reproducing thecorresponding recording units for the motion picture data may beprovided additionally to information for multi-angles. A reproductionapparatus, according to an embodiment of the present invention, performsthe following operation to reproduce multi-angle data.

Since information for jumping points for seeking and reproducing angledata is recorded on a separate storage area from that of motion picturedata, before a corresponding motion picture data is reproduced, theinformation for the jumping points may be read from the informationstorage medium and stored in a memory. Then, the corresponding angledata is tracked and reproduced, or another corresponding angle dataaccording to an angle change by, for example, a user is tracked andreproduced. According to an aspect, clip information comprises jumpinginformation as connection information for motion picture data forming anangle block. Accordingly, where an angle change is requested at aspecific time-point, after a reproduction is performed up to a nearestjumping point of the data being reproduced, remaining motion pictureinformation following a corresponding jumping point of motion picturedata for another angle is reproduced.

Where the respective angle data are not interleaved, and recorded in acontiguous storage space, even though data is multi-angle motion picturedata, the data is read and reproduced from the contiguous storage spacewhere an angle change is not performed. Therefore, the multi-anglemotion picture data may be encoded like general motion picture data, forexample, single-angle motion picture data. Accordingly, separate data orencoding limitation for successively reproducing an angle, as ininterleaving, is not required in this aspect.

As an information structure of a reproduction unit, where informationrepresenting multi-angles is recorded in a manner that a PlayItembelonging to a PlayList constitute an angle block, and where an anglechange is requested while a clip AV stream belonging to the angle blockis reproduced, after reproducing up to a nearest jump-point from thecurrent location of the clip AV stream for an angle being reproduced,reproduction continues from a point after a corresponding jumping-pointof another clip AV stream for another angle, the angle change beingrequested from the angle (current angle) to the another angle by, forexample, a user. Referring to FIG. 21, where separate PlayLists forrespective angles are provided, when an angle change is requested whilea current PlayList is reproduced, another PlayList is reproducedaccording to the change.

A recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention is an apparatus for recording the above-described clip AVstream, jumping point information, and reproduction unit information, inan information storage medium. A method of recording using the recordingapparatus, according to an embodiment of the present invention is asfollows.

Considering a reading speed V_R, a jumping time T_JUMP of a reproductionapparatus, and a maximum bit-rate V_O of moving picture data, a size ofa jumping unit is determined. The relationship used to determine thesize of the jumping unit is described above. The determined jumping unitsize is converted into a reproduction time. Then, respective motionpictures are encoded so as to have random access points be created intounits, each that is equal to or more than this reproduction time.Boundary locations of these units are used as jumping-points. Forexample, in a space-time compression method such as the MPEG, a randomaccess point is a start point of a GOP (Group Of Picture). Accordingly,the jumping unit comprises a plurality of GOPs. The jumping point may bemade at a same reproduction time for each motion picture.

The encoded motion picture data is interleaved by using the jumping unitas an interleaved unit, or recorded in a contiguous storage area of theinformation storage medium according to each angle thereof. Thedetermined location information for the jumping-points is recorded asadditional information. According to an aspect of the present invention,information on jumping points corresponding to respective clip AVstreams may be recorded in clip information.

Thereafter, information on reproduction units forming multi-angle datais created and recorded. At this time, a PlayItem that corresponds toclips are created to form an angle block. According to an aspect, theseangle blocks are interconnected to create a PlayList. According toanother aspect, an independent PlayList for each angle may be created.

As described above, according to the present invention, jumping pointinformation is recorded in a separate storage area from that of motionpicture data. Motion picture data for one angle may be interleaved withmotion picture data for another angle, or motion picture data formulti-angle data may be individually recorded in a contiguous storagearea. Accordingly, an effective distribution of recording area andrandom access is obtained. This also enables more efficient tracking andreading of multi-angle motion picture data.

It is understood that a system which uses the present invention alsoincludes permanent or removable storage, such as magnetic and opticaldiscs, RAM, ROM, a carrier wave medium, etc., on which the process anddata structures of the present invention can be stored and distributed.The operations can also be distributed via, for example, downloadingover a network such as the Internet.

It is also understood that while the present invention has beenillustrated in part by describing a DVD, it is understood that thepresent invention is not limited thereto and may be applied with respectto a variety of information storage media known or to be known.

It is further understood that while illustrative, non-limitingembodiments of the present invention overcome the above disadvantagesand other disadvantages not described above, the present invention isnot required to overcome the disadvantages described above, andillustrative, non-limiting embodiments of the present invention may notovercome any of the problems described above.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatchanges may be made in these embodiments without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe appended claims and their equivalents.

1. An apparatus for reproducing motion picture data for different anglescorresponding to a motion picture from an information storage medium,the apparatus comprising: a reading unit which reads clip audio/video(AV) streams corresponding to the motion picture data for differentangles, the clip AV streams being interleaved with respect to eachother, from the information storage medium; and a reproduction unitwhich reproduces the clip AV streams according to a plurality of clipinformation corresponding to the clip AV streams provided in a separatearea of the information storage medium from that of the interleaved clipAV streams, wherein each clip information comprises an entry point mapcomprising information on entry points for random access and informationon whether each of the entry points is a jumping-point, wherein thejumping-point is an access point through which the motion picture isreproduced from one angle to another angle.